


We’re Not Family

by readingwords



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, False Identity, Gryffindor, Heir, Hogwarts, Lies, Marauders, Marauders era, Seventh year, Simon Schwarz, The Most Noble and Ancient House Of Black, angsty, end of hogwarts, false identity au, happy marauders, jily, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 06:04:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16867495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readingwords/pseuds/readingwords
Summary: His family were ashamed of him and he of them, so why would he take their name?A Marauder’s Era AU where Sirius isn’t Sirius. His family, disgraced by his behaviour, force him to change his name and distance himself from them. All is well for years, but the truth about his identity is still looming behind him whilst a war looms infront. He can’t keep it a secret forever, but the question is, how will everybody react once they know the truth?





	1. The Dark Families

Walburga and Orion Black had a reputation, as did most of the wizarding families. Some known for valiant bravery, some for perseverance and hard work, some for an unmistakable need to discover and expand their knowledge. The Blacks, likewise, had a reputation, a more sinister one, yes, but a reputation nonetheless. For years they and their associates were simply regarded as the ‘Dark Families’ — a title which extended to the likes of the Averys, the Malfoys, The Lestranges and so on. It wasn’t until the second wizarding war broke out that they were labelled as violent and evil, sure, after the rise of Grindlewald the wizarding community knew where their loyalties lay, and it was most certainly not with the muggles and muggleborns, but they were never regarded with such malice and hatred until they were forced to act upon their prejudices during the reign of Lord Voldemort. Subsequently, prior to this reign, their reputation was not one of bigotry and animosity, but one of established etiquette and proper demeanour. 

It was never difficult to spot a member of a ‘Dark Family’ between the forties and eighties, just look for the dark, expensive, and embellished clothing, emphasised by the straight backs and perfect posture. When they spoke, a string of old-fashioned phrases accompanied by an unwavering, perfect pronunciation would slide out and curl around the thoughts of their avid listener, the words cycling in the addressee’s mind, leaving them with a sense of unease and diffidence about their own character. 

The ‘Dark Families’ often discomforted people, if not intimidated them, for their association with the dark arts was not only implied but heavily pronounced in their general manor. But, their morality in magic aside, the way they composed themselves caused others to often shiver at the thought; their savage natures concealed by posh accents and fancy words, alongside perfectly tailored clothing with detailed markings was an awful thought to yield. Staring into the eyes and hearing the voices of these pure bloods, who have known nothing but elegance the entirety of their intoxicating lives, is quite a frightening concept for the beholder. Inadequacy would be inspired in the average wizard simply by their evident wealth, but the addition of the knowledge that they behold the secrets to more dark magic than the ministry could ever wish to control is a terror-invoking assessment, which would consequently leave many borderline distressed in their mere presence. 

It was quite a reputation, one not easy to replicate without the bloodline, and one certainly not easy to grow out of with the bloodline. 

But every family has one black sheep, one who embodies all of the traits lost in the progression of formality over the years, and combines them all into their very own character. A character which lacks all of the features shared by the rest of the flock. A character which would never be thought to be associated with the rest of the flock. A character which is rejected by the rest of the flock and rejects them in return.  
In the case of the Blacks, this black sheep was the son, the first son that is, of Orion and Walburga Black. Except, there was one small divergence of the normality in this trend of one bad egg with this son, the divergence being that this bad egg managed to inspire some others from the same batch to turn rotten too.


	2. The Rise of the Black Sheep

Born the third of November, 1959 to Orion and Walburga Black, they announced their newborn son as Sirius Orion Black, heir to The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, and for the first few years of his life, all was well in the home they shared. He was a fussy child, but no more so than most (after all, Bellatrix had been a handful) and he was disobedient at times but so are the majority of young children. At the end of the day, the Blacks had seen worse children be produced from their very own blood, and so far there had not been one member of the bloodline who had even remotely stepped out of line, so one could say there was little to fret over. 

It wasn’t until Sirius reached about 5 years old that his parents truly began to worry. He didn’t look at home in his dress robes like a true Black did, and he could hardly keep himself still. He’d learned all of the proper manners and how one should compose themselves in public, but he still chose to ignore all of this, instead, choosing to fiddle with items around him and occasionally even showing no interest whatsoever to any guest which the Blacks may have around. Of course none of his poor behaviour could be looked over once their guests and associates saw how their youngest son, Regulus, behaved: straight back, speaks (only) when spoken to, sits still, and takes pride in his family — a true Black, even at only four years old. So, when wizards looked from one Black son to another, they couldn’t help but feel quite disappointed in Orion and Walburga. They were both upstanding members of the family and extremely valued wizards (talent-wise), and so the question remained, how could they simultaneously succeed so much and fail so miserably? This question only increased in popularity within the Knockturn Alley gossip waves as the years carried on. The elder he got, the more adept Sirius became at disobeying blatantly clear orders, and the more talented Regulus became at following them. By the time the pair were nine and ten years old respectively, it became clear there was no hope for Sirius. Perhaps he had been encouraged by his brothers compliance to try and stand out and oppose that, to try and be something of his own. Or maybe he had just always been bad, and he may have been even worse if his brother wasn’t there to set an example. Whatever it was, it was most certainly not acceptable in the Black household, and Orion and Walburga needed to find a way around it.

With the knowledge that Sirius would be turning eleven in a few months, and be attending Hogwarts the following year, the problem he had created for the Black reputaion had to be solved. Whether he would be solved into Slytherin or not, by this point, they did not care, they just needed him out, because if he carried on the way he had done for years now in Hogwarts whilst adding more and more tarnish to their name, they would be humiliated and they could not stand for that. For years he had been pulling little stunts, like hiding Narcissa’s hairbrush when her family and herself came over for dinner, or perhaps ‘accidentally’ knocking a drink into his Uncle’s lap when he’d been about to start talking about his job (an occasion Sirius had complained about many times prieviously, claiming his work talk to be ‘boring’ and ‘positively sleep-inducing’ — both comments which had earned him a stern _‘Go up to your room and stay there until I say so!’_ from his mother). After every one of these stunts, he would have to suffer some sort of punishment: maybe be stuck in his room until he was permitted to leave; or perhaps he’d have to forfeit a meal; or it could be that he would have to spend the following week doing some chores that Kreacher would usually be employed to do. Until, one day, Sirius realised something. He realised, that no matter what he did (and he would have to do something to stay sane in that house) however big or small, his parents would never love him or care for him, especially not as they did Regulus. He was just too different, and he certainly wasn’t about to conform to their ideals; as a small child they were too boring, and once he got old enough to understand what those ideals meant, he just simply didn’t want to partake in them, he didn’t see how being muggleborn could have an effect on someone’s magical ability, from what he could see, his parents were just angry about nothing. This realisation sparked something in him, he wasn’t just going to pull small stunts to get by, he was going to start having fun. And, so, his stunts became fully fledged, elaborate (for an eight year old) pranks. It started when he changed all of his father’s jet black, specialised ink into a hot pink, shimmery substance simply by adding a bit of essence of murtlap and some doxycide to the mix. His father was so angered that he hit Sirius for the first time. That stopped Sirius from doing anything else for a little while, but it definitely did not last, in fact, it only made him angrier and more inclined to frustrate his parents. And so, only three months after his first major rebellion, and his first major punishment, he did another. And then another, and then another. He suffered the consequences for each and every one, but he was never discouraged, temporarily hindered yes, but never fully discouraged from his cause. He was never going to be a _Black_. No, he was to be his own person, and the Blacks would not allow that, and so, this dilemma would have to be solved.

But, how? They couldn’t disown him, not until he was of age. Magic bound him to Grimmauld Place until he turned seventeen, so whatever they did, he would still have to return to their house during the holidays. They obviously couldn’t kill him — they were cruel but not even they were cruel enough to murder a child. So, the question remained, how could they rid themselves of him whilst keeping their status in check?  
The answer came from Dumbledore of all people. There was an article in the daily prophet speaking of the beginnings of a dark wizard labelling himself ‘Lord Voldemort’, the article wasn’t even first page material but it was enough to save the Blacks. In the exclusive interview with Dumbledore, the journalist states that the great wizard suspects that this ‘Lord Voldemort’ is one of his previous students who has changed his name and taken on a new identity. Upon reading this, Orion Black had a realisation.  
“We should change his name.” he stated that morning at breakfast, paper in hand, speaking with purpose. At this, Walburga looked up from her breakfast to see her husband. He hadn’t even looked up to speak, she sat for a moment, eyes subconsciously moving to the right corner of the room as she considered, wedding finger tapping the side of her silver engraved plate.  
“Yes, I suppose we should. Yes, I think that will work just nicely. Smart choice Orion.”  
Nodding in response, Orion gave one last gift to his son, the last one he would ever receive. It was now he looked across the table to where Sirius was sat, though his back was straight and face defying, Sirius’ mouth betrayed him, his lips quivered in fear and his legs were practically begging to bounce up and down in anticipation. Knowing the hold he had over his son in this moment was empowering to him, though he was only young, it took quite a lot to try and control Sirius, but now, Orion has him right where he wanted him, and glancing over to his wife, he could see by the faint quirk at the side of her mouth that she was feeling the same.  
It was now that he spoke his first words to Sirius that morning, coughing in the tone that he used to get Sirius’ attention or to reel him in when he can tell he’s about to go too far, he caught his son’s gaze and held it.  
“And I suppose that you should choose it. After all, you’ll have it for the rest of your life — let it be the last thing that we in this house will grant you, despite your dishonourable, contemptible, undeserving soul, we will allow you this last... choice, let’s say.”  
By this point, a sneer had fully formed upon Orions face, jeering at his son mockingly. Walburga mimicked her husbands actions and nodded modestly, as though agreeing that the weather was poor that day. Sirius didn’t break his gaze from his father, he would not give in that easily, though staying strong was beginning to prove very difficult the more he thought. Eventually, he managed to swallow back the anxieties which were mounding in his stomach and moving up through his through to mutter a reply.  
“I guess this is it then.” 


	3. The Beginning of a New Life

For the rest of that day, Sirius sat coiled up in his room, half-thoughts bounding through his head, being created faster than they could fully come to fruition. He was never one to sit still, but hours passed and he couldn’t bring himself to move from his position at the end of his bed. Knees tucked to his chest, held in place by his trembling arms — they were party so shaky due to the conversation he’d just had, and partly due to the fact that his grip on his legs was so tight that his muscles began to contract in protest — he stared straight ahead of him to the opposite side of the room, where a fireplace lay unlit. Grey eyes with a glazed over look, like concrete after heavy rain, were a window to a troubled soul as their beholder contemplated what would come next. With his chin resting atop his knees as though he lacked the energy to hold his head up at all, Sirius, after approximately three hours, finally snapped out of his daze. _If this is how you want it to go, then so be it._ Deciding that sulking wouldn’t get him anywhere, and questioning why he was even sulking in the first place — he wanted out of that house and that family for as long as he could remember, so now that it was actually happening why was it so frightening to him? why was he so reluctant? — he begun to formulate a plan. They said he could choose his name, so he would. His family would never go back on what they said, he knew he’d have to change his name as soon as he’d looked up and saw the bemused face of his father in front of him. No, this is the solution they’d been waiting for, the one they all had. So, he might as well get started, it would be a fun distraction from the house, making this whole new life for himself; he’d need to research a bit and make sure his story was air tight (or at least as tight enough for a child, not yet of Hogwarts age, to believe), so it would take some work, and he was all for it.

Calling for Kreacher to bring his meals up to his room that day, Sirius cracked open the few books his family had from their home library which seemed as though they could give him an idea of life outside the pureblood realm. He was aware that they may still be quite biased, but he thought he could work the morals out for himself as he read through, and so he could just pick up on the general arrangement of society and families who weren't as _elite_ as the Blacks. Crouched over his desk, legs still aching from being tucked into him so close for so long, he was suddenly aware of how lucky he was to get out of this family. There were many reasons why he hated his family, one of which was just how much they expected of him, one of these expectations being for him to get a respectable job at the Ministry, working against the rights of half-breeds and the like, of course. But as Sirius sat there, however intrigued and invested in the work he was doing he may be, he just _knew_ that there was no chance he could ever have a desk job. He was too energetic, restless, lively, a desk job would never satisfy him, and he knew it. This really was the beginning of something wonderful.

About a week later, he had finished reading and was ready to plan. The prospect excited him so much, he couldn't sleep the night after he finished his final book. Half of him wanted to stay up later and begin his actual preparation for Hogwarts now he had all the knowledge, but the other half was wiser and won him over as it recognised how he'd already stayed up until one am to finish the book, and he need to be fully concentrated when he begun his plan, something he couldn't do on low sleep. He needed it to be perfect. He couldn’t learn the ways of the muggle world in one summer and it would be impossible for him to pretend to be from a different pureblood family. There were few left and that made them well-known, it would not go unnoticed if the Prewetts gained a sudden hitherto unheard of relative. One solution remained: a halfblood. Muggle first name, wizarding surname to solidify the facade. Thus, the following day, he sprung out of bed at the ripe time of 11am, immediately made his was across to his desk, eyes alight with anticipation, picked up his quill, dipped it in (not bright pink) ink and sat in front of the parchment he'd set out the day before. He adjusted his chair, drew closer to the table, and thus began scripting the life of Robert Arryn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! so i just want to say how much i hate proof reading, so if there are a few errors in this chapter (or any others for that matter) i will probably go back and correct them but not until at least a few days after their initial upload jus because of how much i despise prrof reading so sorry about that yike  
> anyways thanks for reading this it really means a lot that people are reading my work and actually liking it have a good day

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first fic and i’m aware it’s not very good, i just wanted to get this one shot out of my system because it’s been floating around in my head for a while now. so yea, if this gets enough hits i may think about expanding this into a weekly updated l o n g fic so we will see!  
> also sorry for not including peter, i just haven’t really got a hold of his character yet so i didn’t want to include him in my first work and get him all wrong lmao, maybe if this extends to a longer work i’ll include him since i’ll have more of an idea as to him on a whole 
> 
> anywho thanks for reading this, see ya


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